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No witch hunt after third Dockers loss: Lyon

Brad Elborough

Dockers coach Ross Lyon admits his side is not as slick as it was last season.

Fremantle coach Ross Lyon admits his side is not as slick as it was last season, but declared there would be no witch hunt as the Dockers seek consistency.

Last year’s losing grand finalist fell to a 3-3 win-loss record after going down to North Melbourne by 13 points at Patersons Stadium on Friday night.

And with a crucial Western Derby looming against West Coast next Sunday, Lyon said that he didn’t expect wholesale changes to his side.

“All of us are a bit nervous. I'm nervous, I don't like losing. We don't like losing,” he said.

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“But we certainly win and lose together.

“There's no witch-hunt here. We understand our supporters and members will be disappointed, so I'm certainly not being flippant.

“We'll highlight the areas and work on them, because that's been our model for a long time and it's stood us in good stead.

“That's been my model as a coach. We identify and we work hard and we commit and we try and grow and improve. We're about growth. It's not ideal, we get that. But we're going to need to play better football more consistently than we did tonight to sort of be in the hunt for a finals berth.”

Several Dockers have been down on form at the early stages of the season, including Nick Suban and Chris Mayne who have averaged just 9.8 and 10.8 touches respectively a game this season. Mayne has also struggled in front of goal, kicking 2.2 from his five games after contributing 37 goals last season.

The Dockers would also be disappointed with small forward Hayden Ballantyne, who sat out of the loss against the Roos after being suspended for an off-the-ball incident the previous week against Sydney.

His absence was more crucial considering Michael Walters could miss the rest of the season due to an ankle injury.

Ballantyne could well have been the difference between Fremantle winning and losing on Friday night. The Dockers went into attack 10 times more than the Roos (55 to 45) but managed just 8.13.

But Lyon refuses to hold any one player accountable.

“I don't think it's about one player,” Lyon said. “I think it's about the team running and spreading and using the ball well, taking their marks and hitting their targets; not forcing the ball through areas where it doesn't need to go.

“I don't think it's about Hayden.”

There aren’t any obvious goal kicking options knocking on the door for selection through performances in the WAFL. Agile, yet raw, big man Michael Apeness has hit the scoreboard in his past three outings for Peel Thunder, with a total of 4.4 in those games.

Anthony Morabito is also pushing for selection after three knee reconstructions, averaging 21 possessions in four WAFL games, plus kicking 3.5.

Garrick Ibbotson is likely to be available to face the Eagles despite being replaced from the emergency list on Friday night due to illness.